Adweek

Parenting Isn't Pretty in This Plum Organics Ad, and That's the Point

By: Roo Ciambriello

Date: 27/05/2015

The latest baby-food ad to make the rounds isn’t what you’d expect. No perfectly tidy nurseries or matching outfits for JCPenney portraits here. Plum Organics’ #ParentingUnfiltered campaign is about real family life—messy, frustrating and somehow wonderful just the same.

We see scenes familiar to any modern parent—pumping milk at work, crying over an iPad, a somber goodbye to a pet goldfish, late nights and tired eyes. It finishes with the copy, “If it feels like parenting isn’t always perfect, you’re doing it right.”

Refreshingly, it’s neither mom- nor dad-focused (dad’s not the caricatural buffoon, for example), and there are same-sex couples and people of color. Along with the spot comes a hashtag, a website and heavy Internet marketing, including partnerships with popular parent bloggers.

“When we first launched seven years ago, our marketing strategy was super scrappy, focused solely on grassroots, word of mouth and PR. We’re still that brand at heart,” he tells AdFreak.

“So as a concept, Parenting Unfiltered came very naturally to us. … The baby industry has done a wonderful job of setting up an expectation that everything is beautiful and rosy and majestic, and then you actually get into your own life and it’s messy and raw and not always pretty. Parenting Unfiltered is about not only acknowledging but celebrating the complicated reality that is parenting.”

Discover Plum Organics' complete line of organic baby foods including fruit puree, toddler snacks & more as well as information on the growth and development of healthy babies, portable baby food pouches and reviews.